Good morning fans.  Today is July 4th.  Independence day to those of you who live in the U.S.A. (my international fans will just have to zone out here)  the day that the US constitution was adopted by the 13 colonies, and independence from England was declared. Well, if fences are a goats england, then every day is the 4th of July for goats.  You see goats pretty much make the rules.  We go where we want, when we want, and fences are merely suggestions.

I do have to respect that builder, though.... he spent a lot of time and energy, and some significant dollars, putting a fence from the opposite side of the access road, all the way to almost the river, so that we could have some fresh browse.  He calls us with his goat song almost every day, so we can cross over to the riverside and have some fresh grass.  Sometimes we even respond to his song, but, not wanting him to think he is in control, sometimes we don't bother.  Depends on the goat mood of the moment.

SO, in other news, we have new family members..... Sarah Jean got married over the last weekend, to Giles, and so now Giles and his two kids, Dylan and Olivia, are official people in our family.  They also have a new puppy, Sonny, who is a great pyranese, a breed known to be a livestock guardian dog.  He's only a baby now, though, so he's not guarding too much, but, he's pretty cute and a good boy.  He visited this past week with Christian and Amelia while Sarah and Giles were on their honeymoon.  Hunter was just getting used to his annoying play behavior when they went home.  There are photos of all this, but, as USUAL, wench is having a hard time with the upload.  sigh

While they were gone at the wedding, we had a new farm sitter.  Pam, our neighbor, was taking care of us, making sure we had food and clean water and plenty of animal crackers and peanuts.  She's being promoted to AUNT PAM in my book.  The great thing about Aunt Pam is that, while she is all gooey about the babies in the barn (she was a pediatric nurse in a former life), she understands my place, and gives me the respect I have so richly earned as the Chief Executive Goat around here.  So thank you, Aunt Pam, for taking such good care of us.  I know the rabbits appreciate you, too.

In other news, wench went to see the puppies that were born over in Piney Creek, and picked out a little sister/seeing eye dog for Hunter.  I think he'll like her.  Thinking about Harper for a name, but will need to see how her personality fits.  She may be something other than a Harper.  She's a chocolate lab, and her daddy is HUE-MUNG-O and mommy is protective.  Her daddy weighs 110 lbs.  Scooter, our first lab, weighed 135, but of course he was mixed with a little St. Bernard, so what do you expect?  anyway, we are hoping this little girl will fit right in around here.

All of Daisy's babies are growing up nicely.  Of the five giant angoras born, one will go live in Alabama and then two does and two bucks will stay here and grow for a while and maybe hit the show circuit in the fall.

I need to get wench lessons on photo uploading.  There are photos, but - nevermind - I won't even go there.

Looking forward to Hailey coming to visit at the end of July - wench is going up to retrieve her right after the West Virginia rabbit seminar she's doing on July 23, about heritage breeds, etc.  Hailey is my girlfriend after all.

Well, without the photos, I can't really continue.  I mean, it's ok just to read my prose, but pictures make it so much more interesting.  It's a burden I must bear, this wench and her handicaps, but, maybe one day she'll learn something.  sigh.

In the meantime, thanks for reading Frankly speaking....